On public demand, Ramanand Sagar's 'Ramayan' makes comeback during lockdown

Doordarshan will be telecasting mythological series "Ramayan" from Saturday on public demand, Union minister Prakash Javadekar said on Friday.

Many social media users had demanded the airing of "Ramayan", directed by Ramanand Sagar, and Mahabharat, directed by BR Chopra, during the 21-day nationwide lockdown and two days ago, Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar said they were working on it.

On Friday, Javadekar tweeted about the development.

"Happy to announce that on public demand, we are starting retelecast of 'Ramayana' from tomorrow, Saturday March 28 in DD National, One episode in morning 9 am to 10 am, another in the evening 9 pm to 10 pm. @narendramodi @PIBIndia @DDNational," the Union minister of information and broadcasting wrote on Twitter.

The Prasar Bharati CEO thanked Javadekar and the Sagar family for the development in a series of tweets.

"Thank you Sir for all your guidance and support in making this happen at this time," Shekhar said.

"A dedicated team of DD officers worked through the day yesterday and through the night to make this happen even as they stayed away from home and their families. Kudos to the entire team who worked on a war footing in response to immense demand from the viewers to watch the epic," he added.

"Heartfelt thanks to the Sagar Family for this service to the Nation during this moment who took immense effort to mobilise their resources and made available content to Team @ddnational in Mumbai on a war footing," the Prasar Bharati CEO said in another tweet.

Based on Lord Ram's life, "Ramayan" was first aired on Doordarshan in 1987 and attained a cult status. It featured Arun Govil in the role of Lord Ram and Deepika Chikhaliya in the role of Sita. It was brought to the screen by Sagar Arts.